The Irreversible Sequence: Paul’s Ethics: Their Foundation and Present Relevance

The Irreversible Sequence crosses the borders and establishes a dialogue between New Testament exegesis and systematic theology by analysing the foundation of ethics in Paul and discussing their present relevance, illustrated through writings of Emil Brunner. What brings the two fields into dialogue is an irreversible sequence, which is spelled out at different levels: theologically as a belief that God's beneficent acts in Christ precede and call for man's response; anthropologically as an assumption that the answer to »what is the right thing to do?» always involves the question of what it means to be a person; and ethically as a heuristic idea that the ethical demands are received as God's gifts and as such are his command.